There are quite a lot paintings to chose among but I really like this one the most. The Astronomer and The Geographer are my favorite paintings. In my opinion these two paintings are full of possibilities, mostly The Astronomer. I don’t know why exactly but this picture is the one that tells me more.
I think that it is mostly because we are 100% free to imagine, write and tell the story that we like the most. We can change this character and his trade into whatever we want, we can imagine and make the character face any kind of situation. I can just see the painting and tell the story that it transmits me. The funny thing about this project is that a couple of us might chose the same painting and still tell a completely different story.
To sum up, as I said before I am going to work with the painting of The Astronomer. Since one of Vemeer’s habit was to sign the painting under the name of what one could see in the picture, my choice is clearly an astronomer working on his office. He is sitting in front of a book and a globe.
Bibliography:
- The Geographer : Web Gallery of Art Retrieved 16:24 , April 7, 2010 from http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/v/vermeer/03d/29geogr.html
- The Astronomer : Essential Vermeer Retrieved 16:31 , April 7 , 2010 from http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/astronomer.html
Johannes Vermeer, also known as Jan or Johan was born in Delft on 1632 and he was buried in the same city in 1675. He was a Baroque painter who became famous painting everyday scenes of the middle age class lifestyle.
He was not very much known outside his circle probably because he mostly worked “genre painter” . He produced few paintings and he never became specially wealthy, he even left his wife and children debt at his death.
As I mentioned before, he is a painter that was involved in the Baroque period or movement during the 17th century. This period meant a whole change of perspective in the art world, including painting, architecture and sculpture. Baroque art is characterized by great drama, rich, deep color, and intense light and dark shadows. As opposed to Renaissance art, which usually showed the moment before an event took place, Baroque artists chose the most dramatic point, the moment when the action was occurring.
Vermeer is particularly known for his masterly treatment and use of the light in his works clearly showing the influence of this new period called Baroque. He worked slowly and with great care, using bright colours and sometimes expensive pigments, with a preference for cornflower blue and yellow.
Bibliography :
- Johannes Vermeer: In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15:53, April 7, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Vermeer
- Renaissance Art : Boston College Art History Program . Retrieved 16:07, April 7, 2010 from http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/HP/renaiss.htm
- Baroque : In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:02, April 7, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_painting
- Genre Painting : In Genre Painting: History,Types,Artists Retrieved 16:18, April 7, 2010, from http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/genres/genre-painting.htm
